top of page

BREAKING NEWS
TOP HEADLINES


Classroom of Champions: ELF Teams Get Their Grades
The curtain has fallen on the regular season, and as tradition dictates, the council gathers one last time. The grades are in, the exam papers have been marked, and it’s time to see which teams proudly move to the top of the class, which barely scraped a passing grade, and which will be stuck in detention until next year.
We could have done that division by division to hand out the grades, but here’s a little spoiler for the impatient: nobody really shone across the board. Ea
Aug 29, 2025


A TRUE RIVALRY IN DUBLIN
As every year, Dublin dressed up to host a new edition of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. Shop windows and pubs across the city were adorned with the vibrant colors of the universities: the red of Iowa State and the purple of Kansas State blended into every corner. Yet this time there was something truly special in the air: for the first time, the Aviva Stadium would host a game officially considered a rivalry — the storied Farmageddon.
This is one of the oldest and
Aug 28, 2025


News You Can Use – IFL Edition #2
Almost a month later, First Down Mag is back with some news on Italian Football during the offseason.
The Italian Movement is running wild despite the forced stop after the end of the Senior championships in July.
Now the focus is on the national Flag Football teams playing in both The World Games and in the Euros in September, while the Junior Tackle Championships will start in less than two months, while the National Tackle team will face a new challenge in November.
...
Aug 27, 2025


BAFA Premiership Final Power Ranking
And with that, the 2025 BAFA Premiership regular season comes to an end, making this not only the last power ranking of the year, but also the playoff preview (where we’ll begin), and we’ll have a look at the promotion picture as it stands.
Playoffs Set
In my first ranking of the season, I outlined this weekend’s fixtures as being an unmissable part of the playoff race, and while there weren’t any huge surprises, it definitely didn’t disappoint.
In the first match of the w
Aug 22, 2025


ELF Final Power Rankings
And just like that, the regular season of Europe’s premier league has come to an end.
It’s been one of the most thrilling campaigns yet, but before the playoffs begin, let’s take one last look back at everything that unfolded.
1st. Vienna Vikings 11-1
What a season, huh? In one of the decisive games, they completely crushed the Parisians’ ambition of reaching the playoffs. But it was far from an easy task, the battle went all the way to overtime before they could finally s
Aug 22, 2025


The Road to the Playoffs: Odds, Ifs, and Maybes
While everyone is wondering which teams still have a shot at the playoffs, we turned to ELFpedia.eu for some clarity, using math, not guesswork. ELF Pedia is a data-driven platform that provides valuable insights and up-to-date resources like current rosters, standings, and stats, which we often rely on for our coverage. Here’s how they broke down the playoff odds and who’s still in the race… and who’s not:
“We applied a probabilistic forecasting model using one million Mont
Aug 9, 2025
OTHER NEWS


UNION JACK CLASSIC
Wembley Stadium has staged just about everything football has to offer. On Saturday, it added another chapter to its history: College Football. Kansas and Arizona State crossed the Atlantic for a Week 3 matchup that brought the sights, sounds and spectacle of a fall Saturday in America to the heart of London.
LONDON BECOMES THE CENTER OF EUROPEAN FOOTBALL
For one Saturday in September, London became the center of the College Football world.
The British capital is hardly a
5 days ago


The Pioneers: NFL Europe and the League That Dared to Cross an Ocean
Long before the NFL played regular season games in London, Munich, or Madrid, it tried something far bolder: building entire professional franchises on European soil.
In July 1989, NFL owners approved the creation of the World League of American Football, a genuinely transatlantic experiment and the first time the league had ever tried to plant a professional, developmental version of itself outside North America. When the WLAF kicked off on March 23, 1991, ten teams took th
6 days ago


Italian Football League News You Can Use #1
With the conclusion of the tackle football seasons in Italy, "News You Can Use" - the most beloved and imitated column - returns to First Down Mag, bringing you all the latest updates on Italian football.
From the first to the third division, and from North to South, here is everything you need to know about roster moves and the latest news from the world of Italian gridiron.
Here is the first batch of news from the Italian football scene. Enjoy the read.
Cameren Grodhaus
7 days ago


İTÜ HORNETS — INTERVIEW WITH HEAD COACH AHMET ÖZMEN
We've now won four championships in the university league, and in that arena we've long been a college team playing football at the very top level. In past years, though, as a club we struggled to carry that success over to the pro league. Even though the 2022 pro semifinal was a huge blow for us, I'd say it was the game that fueled our ambition and made us more determined than any other. But reducing the four championships won over the last two years — across both the pro an
Sep 15


2026 GFL Power Rankings — Week 18 Update
Biggest Takeaway
As the GFL season moves toward the postseason, the league has started to separate into clear tiers. At the top, three teams have consistently looked like the strongest championship threats.
Dresden Monarchs/Potsdam Royals/Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns
The Dresden Monarchs, Potsdam Royals, and Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns have separated themselves from the rest of the GFL.
These are clearly the three strongest teams in the league and the teams best positioned to ma
Sep 11


BELICHICK’S TAR HEELS WIN THE AER LINGUS COLLEGE FOOTBALL CLASSIC
DUBLIN DRESSES UP FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL AGAIN
Throughout the week, Dublin’s streets were dressed in TCU purple and unmistakable Carolina Blue, and long before kickoff it felt as though the Horned Frogs held a slight advantage in the stands.
Close to 10,000 fans had travelled from Texas, filling the pubs of Temple Bar and much of the city centre with TCU colours. In total, more than 14,000 supporters made the trip from the United States for this year’s Classic. Fewer than in
Sep 4


FLORIAN BIERBAUMER INTERVIEW - “Seikovits and I played rock-paper-scissors to decide…”
“Seikovits and I played rock-paper-scissors to decide…”
Florian Bierbaumer is one of the star players of the Vienna Vikings. The Graz native, who carries the nickname “Cheat Code”, recently had to take an enforced break due to an ankle injury but used the time to try out new things alongside his recovery.
The former NFL hopeful looked back on his AFLE season so far exclusively with First Down Magazine, spoke about his experience as a co-commentator, his collaboration with f
Aug 13


IFL Teams Get Their Grades!
With the IFL having wrapped up its 2026 season about a month ago — featuring the Guelfi Firenze victory over the Panthers Parma in Ferrara—the final bell has rung, and it is time to grade the teams in the top league.
This article reviews the season for the nine teams competing in the First Division of Italian Football.
Which teams made the grade, which ones have work to do before the new term, and which ones failed?
Guelfi Firenze: A
The Italian Football League’s model te
Aug 6


SUPERSERIEN TAKEAWAYS 2026
Tyresö gets it’s championship
After a lot of years of being the dark horse to win the prestigious SM-Guld, the Tyresö Royal Crowns can finally call themselves Champions of Sweden upsetting #1 seed Carlstad and #3 seed Stockholm in the semis and final respectively.
This team had arguably no weakness and only finished in the #4 seed by having a game overturned and losing to both SMM and Calrstad with only one score each during the regular season.
While the semi against the C
Jul 16
bottom of page


























